Help Make An Impactful Film About Life after Loss

Hi! My name is Rebecca and I’m a screenwriter and filmmaker from Fredericton, New Brunswick! In the fall of 2022, I wrote a screenplay about what life looks like after the death a family member and the spiritual connection we can have with them.

Three years ago, I lost my dad to cancer. We were really close. A week after his death, he visited me in a vivid dream where he showed up as my young dad – who he was to me when I was 8 years old. He gave me such a comforting, loving hug! When I woke up, I knew it was a visit from his spirit. I felt so grateful for his presence. From that moment on, I started noticing him around me and I learned how to connect with him on the other side. Remembering that dream brings me to tears every time. The grief will always live in me; I wish he was still with us in the physical world.

I’ve found that writing and artistic expression has been the most powerful form of healing for me, and it’s what inspired my newest film, Come Home. It’s a fiction piece that follows a grieving mother who has just lost her young daughter. This film is a story about pain and possibility, despair and resilience, grief and grit – but most of all, about hope. I feel confident that the themes of this film; navigating grief after the death of a loved one and reconnecting with them on a spiritual level, will have an impact on many people who have suffered loss.

I am currently preparing to shoot this film in April 2023 with a team of 10 crew members. My reason for launching this GoFundMe campaign is because I think it’s important to pay my crew (and my post-production team: editor, sound mixer and colourist) a living wage. A lot of work goes on behind the scenes that an audience never gets a chance to see, and I want my team’s time and expertise to be valued!

At the 2022 Silver Wave Film Festival, I was awarded the CBC/NB Joy Award with a cash award of $3500 to put towards making this film. For a 4-day shoot, half of this amount will go towards art department (set design/props), food and transportation, leaving very little budget-wise to pay my team. A lot goes into making a film! This topic is near and dear to my heart, and I want to do the best job I can, therefore my goal is to increase the total budget to $12,500. (For example, film editors alone get paid $500-$1000/day and a short film usually takes 3-4 days to edit, or more.)

Having previously owned my own puppet company, I have over 5 years of experience writing and directing puppet shows for children. These skills have translated over to filmmaking very nicely; In 2022, I wrote my first feature film script which I submitted to Telefilm Talent to Watch, and I received the Short Film Venture Award for a short comedy film I wrote. I successfully directed the film in September with 12 crew members, 11 actors with lines, 27 background actors, and 5 different locations (including a moving vehicle!)

My goal with Come Home is to distribute it to a dozen films festivals. I would also like to submit it to competitions such as the CBC Short Film Face Off. My vision for filmmaking is to tell stories that audiences can relate to at a heart-level, characters they see themselves in. I want to encourage them to connect with their emotions, resilience and possibility.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this! I’m very grateful for your support, which is essential to carrying forth my vision for this film. As a thank you, I will mention the name of each person who donates in the credits of my film!

Any amount helps, do not feel obliged to match the donations that others have made. Thank you so much!!